Afterschool Slayers : Hunters of the Unknown
by LimerenceMag
Summary: A high school girl with low self-esteem finds a interesting new after-school job that utilizes a special talent. She thinks this will get her closer to her crush, but strange things keep happening. How can she manage keeping so many secrets from everyone?
1. A break from routine

In a bustling world filled with beautiful people and talent around every corner, everyone tries hard to find their place in society, looking desperately for a place that feels right. Everyone wants to know that they are wanted and appreciated, that their talents are just the right fit for some place. But, for some people, finding that fit seems almost impossible, so impossible that they just give up hope and submit to a routine of mediocrity and apathy. That, at least, seemed to be the case for Cecilia.

Ever since Cecilia was a little girl, she felt like an outsider shivering as she stood on a cold street and peeking in through the fogged windows of a cozy home. She was never as fast as the other kids on the busy school playground, so was always at the end of the line to play on the swing set. She was always clumsy, missing soccer balls and baseballs during games, and because of it, was always one of the last people picked to be on teams. She got so nervous when she took tests that she always ended up getting less-than-stellar grades, even on tests she was so sure she could ace. Even in her social life, she tried hard to seem as appealing and interesting as she could be, but for some reason, she never felt like she knew the right thing to say or do. Her looks certainly didn't set her apart from the crowd either. She had drab shoulder-length brown hair and dull brown eyes. Her face was round and uninteresting. No matter how hard she tried, things just seemed to be so much more difficult for her than for other girls. Other girls were so pretty, thin, popular, athletic, and smart, but she was Cecilia. A nobody. A background character. Nothing special.

Each and every day, her alarm went off at 5:30 AM. Every day, she turned off her alarm, and remained in bed, staring up at her ceiling, trying to convince herself that today would be better, that today things would be great. At 5:45 AM, she finally rolled out of bed, the crickets still chirping, and the sun still yet to rise. She slowly slunk into the bathroom, where, every morning, before school, Cecilia looked at herself in the mirror, pinching her face, earnestly wishing that she could just, for one day, look prettier than she was. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, applied her acne medication, and put her contacts in. At 6:00 AM, she would flip her hair this way and that way, applying gel and mousse to get her hair to look like a prettier girl's so that maybe she would be noticed by a cute boy or something. Her father, every morning at 6:15 AM would notice that she is still in the bathroom and would call to her "Cecilia! Hurry up! You haven't eaten breakfast and you have a bus to catch!" And after every morning reminder, she would grumble, dissatisfied with her hair, to go change for school, always dissatisfied with her clothes and how they looked on her, as her father continued to call to her to hurry her up.

Finally, she would come downstairs with barely enough time to choke down her breakfast before the bus honked for her to come running. Every morning she gave her dad a hug goodbye, grabbed her book bag, slipped on her shoes and ran to the honking school bus, and every morning she sat next to her best friend, who always saved her a seat on the crowded school bus. A dull, unchanging routine.

This morning, however, would be different. The night before, there was an unexpected, yet brief storm that swept through the city, causing a tree to fall onto some power lines, the power lines that supplied Cecilia's neighborhood with electricity. As she still lay in bed, sleeping, dreaming about a better life somewhere far away, her alarm clock blipped off. She comfortably snoozed away, unaware that her boring routine was about to be shaken up quite unexpectedly.

Her dreams were pleasant; she was a beautiful and widely adored queen, worshipped and loved by all. She was surrounded by gold statues, delicately prepared foods, and handsome suitors. Just as she was about to choose between the handsome Italian and the stunning Swede, she heard a loud sound. She shot up in bed, looked at her clock, only to find it had been turned off. "What's going on?" she wondered. She heard the bus honk. "Oh my God!" she yelled as she shot up, grabbing a pair of jeans off her floor and thrusting them on. She ran downstairs, grabbed her bag, slipped her shoes on, and ran out of the house, just before the bus drove off after waiting so long for her. The bus driver gave her a dirty look and grumbled something about a lazy brat under her breath. Cecilia, still dazed and sleepy, climbed aboard the bus, and looked for Carrie, her best friend. Carrie wasn't on the bus this morning, and the bus was as crowded as ever. "Where do all these kids come from?" she thought as she looked for an empty seat.

As she made her way down the bus aisle, kids glanced at her then quickly looked away. She heard some snickering and looked over to see the two blonde cheerleaders who rode her bus glancing at her, then back to each other as they whispered and laughed. She wasn't sure why everyone was acting so strangely this morning; she had never done anything bad or mean to anyone. But the snickers continued anyway, and it made her feel awful, embarrassed, and more desperate to find a seat quickly. After what seemed like an eternity, she found an empty seat next to one mean looking guy.

He was sporting a Mohawk, wearing a camouflage jacket and bondage pants. He had a tattoo on the back of his neck peeking just above the back of his lapel, ear gauges, eyebrow piercings, and a number of scars on his face. He was staring intently out of the window, looking…mean. "It can't be too horrible sitting next to him for just a little while… I don't think he would kill me… I think… I hope…" Cecilia thought to herself. As she stood, shaking and praying for her life, she cleared her throat, "Um, excuse me…" she muttered, "do you mind if I sit here?" The Mohawk guy turned, almost glaring at her with a threateningly cold stare. He raised an eyebrow, and studiously gazed at Cecilia, looking up and down her body with a hideously intent expression on his face.

He smirked, nodded, and, without looking up at her face said, "Yeah, you can sit here, awright."

The two cheerleaders, who had been watching the whole scene unfold, broke out into obnoxious laughter. Cecilia, now thinking that she would have been better off if the punk had tried to stab her to death, drooped into the seat next to the guy, who was still lustfully studying her body. She turned so red that she thought she would pass out from sheer humiliation. She placed her hands on her knees to keep them as far away from the punk as was physically possible and stared at her lap, trying very hard to hide her red face.

The punk leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, "I hafta say, I like the do'."

She looked at him strangely, thinking to herself "What do'?" She reached up to touch her hair and realized that, in her rush to leave, she didn't brush her hair or do anything. She didn't even have a mirror to see what she looked like. Her stomach churned as she realized how ridiculous she must look to everyone on the bus. And at that rate, she couldn't see a damned thing either. She forgot her contacts and didn't even grab the glasses from her bedside table either! Fortunately, she was always prepared and kept some basic toiletries in her bag. She grabbed her bag to get her spare hairbrush and her emergency glasses only to discover she had forgotten to zip the bag closed and that some of the things had fallen out of her bag. She was so upset she could just cry. She quickly pulled her fingers through her hair, trying desperately to get the many tangles out of her hair. She hadn't even brushed her teeth. She squirmed in her chair, uncomfortable from looking and feeling like such a mess and from the overly friendly attention she was getting from the scarred delinquent next to her. She just wanted to jump off the bus, run home, and shove her big tangled head under a pillow. But she couldn't now; she would be forced to spend her day looking like a sloppy bum around a few hundred overly judgmental fellow teenagers.

The bus pulled up in front of the school, where many other kids were getting off the bus, happily chatting and laughing as they all strolled into the school for a new school day. Before the bus had even come to a complete stop, Cecilia leapt from her seat and jolted to the front of the bus before any others had even gotten the chance to stand up. She needed to get off that bus and fast. She ran into the building, all the while, running her fingers through her hair and staring at the floor. Her friends had already gotten to school and were standing near their lockers, which were all near Cecilia's. Her friends, Maggie, Addy, and Carrie stood, chatting and laughing with each other.

"Cecilia!" Addy called out to her, "Hey!"

The other two turned around, and as Cecilia approached, the three just stared in stunned silence. Cecilia could just feel the awkward tension. She knew how bad she looked. She just wanted to die.

"Cecilia…what…happened?" Maggie asked carefully, reaching out to touch the tangled mess that was Cecilia's head.

"Well… I don't know what happened… my alarm…" Cecilia started.

"Oh. You mean your alarm was off. Mine too. I missed the bus this morning. My mom had to drive me here." Carrie quickly interrupted.

"Yeah… so I had to run out… I didn't get a chance to like… you know…" Cecilia muttered, drooping her eyes to the floor as they began to water.

"Hey, no problem, here you can use my hairbrush real fast to fix that… uh… that mess before class starts." Addy said, reaching into her purse and pulled out her hairbrush.

Cecilia grabbed it from her and quickly brushed out all of the tangles before anyone else could walk by and see her hair… especially _him_. Her actions were just in time too.


	2. A fateful encounter

The class grew quiet as everyone, fearful of the creative wrath that was Mrs. Rivers's, went back to working on their assignments. When Cecilia came back to clean the charcoal off of her workstation, Addy elbowed her sharply in the ribs to get her attention. Cecilia looked over to Addy, who was tilting her art pad so that Cecilia would have a better view of what was on the pad. Cecilia blushed and scrubbed the table harder, trying to ignore the artistic mischief of her friend. Addy chuckled as she continued her realistic rendition of Victor kissing Cecilia's hand, Victorian-age style.

Art really set Addy apart from the rest. It came easily to her and she was very good at it, even being recruited to draw for school events. It was something that Cecilia admired. She tried very hard to draw as well as Cecilia could, but her artistic abilities were very limited and she wasn't able to visualize things like Addy could. Even when Addy was a little girl playing in coloring books with Cecilia, her artistic abilities were freakish and unnatural compared to children her age.

Cecilia tried very hard to stay in the same art classes, but it was becoming more difficult, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to take the next level of art with Addy next semester. She struggled on the day's assignment, which was supposed to be a charcoal drawing of the classroom. It wasn't very creative, but she couldn't think of anything else to draw. Just as she was trying to fix a mistake, the ball rang, prompting the teacher to call for all the assignments to be turned in. Even though she had failed miserably to make anything that looked like the intended model, her spirits were high because she was going to see Victor soon. One more class, and she had the chance to talk to him, maybe even get closer to him.

Cecilia walked into her next class, sat down, and pulled out her notebook. She wondered where Maggie had gone off. It wasn't like her to not be early to class. Beside that, she relied on Maggie to help her do last minute preparations for a class that Cecilia really didn't belong in – Chemistry. Just as the classroom was filling up, Maggie walked in, looking at Cecilia with a raised eyebrow as she sauntered in.

"So," Maggie started as she plopped down into her chair, "I hear you've got a little rendezvous with a certain Victor at lunch today. Does that mean you're ditching us to be with _some guy_?" she asked flatly, cocking her head to one side.

"He's not _some guy_! You know that- wait… what? Who told you about that?!" Cecilia said, slamming her fists down onto her desk.

"Addy told me everything. We have been friends for, like, a million years, and you don't tell me about this kind of thing?! I have to find out through _the slutty one_?! I am _soooo_ offended! I thought you _cared_ about me!" Maggie clamored.

"The slutty one… Uh, well, there was nothing to say! Nothing is happening! It's nothing! I promise! Nothing! Nada!" Cecilia yelped, wishing that her stupid nosey friends would mind their own business and stop gossiping about her. It was making her even more nervous for something she was already nervous about.

Just then, the teacher, Dr. Murrell walked into the room and set her books down onto her desk, "Good morning, class! I hope everyone is ready to learn about chemical reactions today! Go get your lab gear on!" she chirped happily.

"This isn't over, Cecilia." Maggie grumbled threateningly, "Oh, and please don't tell Addy that I called her slutty" she added as she turned to grab a lab apron and goggles.

Lab went by as usual, Maggie taking charge and Cecilia trying desperately to understand what was going on. Maggie was always very good at math and science, so she was always asked to tutor her other friends in those subjects. Cecilia looked up to her. She was mature, funny, and very smart. Though she had a sharp tongue and was quick to offend anyone and everyone around her, she always seemed to know the best way to resolve things quickly, making people forget what she had said to upset them just minutes ago. Cecilia wished she could be just half as smart as Maggie.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling lunch. As Cecilia helped put away the lab materials, her hands began to shake in anticipation. She would see Victor. It would be just her and him. Alone, on the benches, just the two of them. She didn't know what to say. A knot began to form in her throat. Her mind began to race with all of the different things that could possibly go wrong – she could trip, say the wrong thing, not understand things and look stupid, or she might blush too noticeably. Cecilia tried to push those things out of her mind. She gathered up her things and scuffled out the door with everyone else, only to be greeted by Carrie and Addy. Addy had her arm propped on Carrie's shoulders and Carrie glared reproachfully at Cecilia. Maggie trotted up from behind, "Did Maggie tell you what was going on?! Did she?" she shouted excitedly.

"Yep." Carrie responded, not once breaking her glare or blinking. "I guess _some_ people like to keep secrets from their best friends…"

"What?! How could you say that?! There _is_ no secret! I keep telling you all that! What more do you want from me?!" Cecilia shouted defensively, throwing her arms up in frustration.

"Well, that's beside the point. You didn't brush your teeth this morning and that is quite apparent to us right now." Carrie said coolly, reaching into her designer purse for her Binaca.

Cecilia thrust her hands over her mouth and gasped. She had totally forgotten that she hadn't brushed her teeth. Her breath must smell horrible, she thought. How many people had she leaned in to talk to so far? How many of those people were being gassed to death by her insanely bad breath? She was so embarrassed she could just die.

"Open." Carrie commanded, holding out her Binaca.

Cecilia uncovered her mouth and opened her mouth, just looking at Carrie in shock. The whole day had just been a total shock to the system, completely throwing off her normal routine and usual expectations. Carrie snapped away the bad breath and promptly put the Binaca back away. "Now that we've taken care of that bit, let's solve the next problem," Carrie said calmly, flipping her gorgeous auburn hair over her shoulder, "I know that you forgot your lunch this morning too, and you can't go to lunch with Victor looking like a pathetic moocher who presumptuously expects to have him share his food with you."

Her words struck like an arrow through Cecilia's chest, "Gah… you're right… but, what do I do? I don't have time to go buy lunch _and_ to go meet with Victor!" Cecilia whined.

"Well, that's not a problem. Seeing as you can repay us after school with some of your dad's awesome cooking, I have nothing against giving you some of my food for lunch… right, ladies?" Carrie propositioned.

"What are you suggested, exactly?" Addy asked, somewhat hesitant about giving up some of her precious packaged foods.

"We will each give her one thing from our lunches so that she looks like less of an unprepared ditz" Carrie responded.

"Wait, who are you calling-" Cecilia started.

"Oh, she can have my iced tea, and I'll just buy one for myself I guess." Maggie said, walking to her locker.

"I'll give her my sandwich. It's avocado and olive. I hate it and probably wasn't going to eat it anyway," said Carrie, reaching into her purse for the sandwich.

"How generous of-" Cecilia started, trying to get a word in.

"Meh… fine…she can have my second chips I guess… but she owes me for this." Addy muttered, holding out her chips for Carrie to take.

"Would you all stop talking about me as if I'm not here?!" Cecilia screeched frustratedly.

The three looked at her blankly, then turned back to what they were doing. Carrie grabbed a bag from her locker to put the food in then handed off the package to Cecilia, "Now, hurry up, I'm sure he's waiting for you. Make us proud, Cecilia."

Cecilia just glared at Carrie, blushing quite noticeably. She snatched the bag out of her hand and quickly stormed off, not bothering to say another word.

She quickly headed toward the school's exit, hoping that Victor hadn't been waiting for her too long. Cecilia's stomach grumbled painfully. She hadn't eaten since the night before, and even though the sandwich was weird, she just wanted something to eat. She tried to remind herself to not eat too quickly, lest she look like a pig in front of the most amazing guy in the universe. When she got to the benches, she was surprised to find that Victor wasn't there. She figured he was just running late, so she would hurry to cram as much food as she could fit into her mouth before he got there so that she would be satisfied enough to not look like a pig in front of him. She sat down on the bench and ravenously tore the plastic wrap off the sandwich, taking huge mouth-sized bites out of the sandwich and chewing it all squirrel-style. Just then, Victor seemingly appears out of nowhere. Cecilia began to choke as she tried to forcefully swallow her mouthful of food.

"Are you ok?" Victor asked, reaching for Cecilia, genuinely concerned.

"Cack cack cack! Yeah. Cack! I'm ok" Cecilia said, coughing as she choked down her food.

"I hope you weren't waiting too long for me." Victor said shyly, looking at his shoes.

"Oh… no. No, I wasn't waiting too long…"

"Well, good. We have important business to discuss, and not a lot of time to do it. Let's go" Victor motioned for her to follow him.


	3. Prying friends, rising emotion

Cecilia grabbed the hairbrush from Addy and quickly brushed out all of the tangles before anyone else could walk by and see her hair… especially _him_. Her actions were just in time too. She saw him walking down the hall, bag in hand, jacket hanging over one shoulder, and he being more handsome than ever. As she stared at him, walking down the hallway, time seemed to slow down. His name was Victor, a fitting name for someone as successful at everything as he was. His wavy blonde hair bounced as he walked with that shoulder swagger that characterized him. He was tall, tan, handsome, and smart. Top of his class every quarter, the quarterback of the junior varsity football team, volunteer at the local animal shelter, after-school tutor at a nearby elementary school, and most importantly, single. He was the perfect guy. Every good quality that existed in the world, he had. And despite being so great at everything he did, he wasn't arrogant, and never put anyone down, instead, he only encouraged others to try harder and succeed. It was because of his gentle and encouraging nature that he had so many friends. Things came easily to him.

Cecilia admired him because he was everything she wasn't. He was good at everything, and she was good at nothing. She knew that he could have any girl he wanted. She had no redeeming qualities about her, and there were so many girls who had so many good qualities. She could never approach him for this reason. She would be the laughing stock of the school if she did - someone as lowly as her trying to get someone as great as Victor. It would never be.

Just as Victor walked by, he turned to look at Cecilia and smiled as he continued gracefully walking down the hall. Cecilia just stared in shock, mouth agape. Her friends too, just stared at her, all of them in complete disbelief. Her friends grabbed her, all of them shouting at once wondering what was going on, why did he smile, when did she start talking to Victor, and other, excited questions. Cecilia just stopped them, putting her hands out and saying, "I don't know, he probably wasn't even looking at me! I really don't know what that was about! Believe me!"

The school bell rang, forcing the four apart in different directions. Addy, Maggie, and Carrie all vowed to continue harassing Cecilia to get the answers they wanted as the begrudgingly walked to their separate classes. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all, Cecilia thought to herself, blushing and smiling to herself as she floated through the hallway to her first class.

Due to bad handwriting and a lazy administrator, Cecilia received the pleasure of taking math as her first class instead of what she had scrawled on her class registration sheet, "Music". Even though having such a hard class so early in the morning was a complete pain, and despite her having such a rough start to her day, nothing would bring her down right now. Nothing. She took her seat near the back of the class and looked up at the board, which the teacher was writing the day's lesson on. She looked at the board, which was fuzzy and covered in white fuzzy stuff. "Crap" she thought to herself. She didn't have glasses and never put her contacts in. "How am I going to do anything today? I'm so dumb. Damn it" she thought as she slunk down in her chair.

The teacher, Mr. Rothstein, saw her and walked over, putting his arm on her chair and leaning down, "Cecilia, is something the matter? What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned as he always is about his students.

Cecilia looked at him and whispered, "I can't see the board…I forgot my glasses and contacts this morning…"

Mr. Rothstein stood up, adjusted his tie, and called out, "Victor, would you please come here?"

Cecilia's heart jumped up to her throat. Out of the opened classroom closet came Victor, holding a stack of paper. Cecilia's mind raced, "What is _he_ doing here?! I thought he was in _GT_! Oh my God, he's seeing that I'm in retardo math. He's going to think I'm an idiot! Shit!" her mind screamed."

"You can put that paper down on my desk. I just need you to come over here." Mr. Rothstein instructed.

Victor placed the paper down and walked toward Cecilia's desk, all the while Cecilia's heart beat so hard that it felt as though it was going to break through her chest and run away.

"Hey, Victor, I need you to help out Cecilia today. She left her glasses at home and can't see the board. Could you take notes for her, please? Just give them to her after class, OK?" Mr. Rothstein quietly asked Victor.

"Yeah, sure, no problem. My handwriting isn't so great though, but I could help her read the notes during lunch or something." Victor quietly responded.

Lunch with Victor? Cecilia was just swimming in high emotions. She couldn't believe it. She thought she would just faint.

"Yeah, ok, does that sound all right to you, Cecilia?" Mr. Rothstein asked quietly.

"Yes, absolutely. That is just perfect to me." She responded quickly.

Victor smiled and nodded, " 'kay, cool. I'll, uh, see you at lunch then. I'll bring the notes with me. You could just meet me outside on the benches if that's alright with you."

Cecilia quickly nodded, so excited she was unable to remember how to speak.

Victor smiled again and walked toward the back of the room, taking a seat in the back of the class, pulling out a pencil and paper.

Cecilia was beside herself. She was so happy she could just cry. "Was he actually… happy about having lunch with me?" she thought to herself. Her heart was beating so fast she just couldn't seem to calm down to pay attention to Mr. Rothstein's lecture. She was going over in her mind all of the things she should say, 'oh, Victor, nice to see you', 'hey, Victor, what's up?', 'You're the most handsome guy I have ever seen in my life and I love you'. "Get it together, Cecilia!" she thought to herself, blushing and covering her face with her hands, "I have to pay attention to what the teacher is saying! I can't afford to fail another test in this class!" She looked up, still holding her face, and tried desperately to listen to what Mr. Rothstein was talking about, but she felt some sort of force trying to pull her eyes toward the back of the room, where she knew Victor was sitting. She was both dreading and excited for lunch, but the minutes seemed to go by more slowly than ever before in her life.

After fighting with herself and missing most of the day's lesson, the bell finally rang, and all students scrounged up their notebooks and hustled out of the classroom. As she was putting her things in her bag, she looked back at Victor. He looked up from the notes he had taken, looked at Cecilia, smiled, and excitedly said, "See you at lunch!" then he quickly gathered up his materials, and left the classroom.

Cecilia wandered out of the classroom in a daze, headed to her next class. Fortunately, she was on her way to art class, so she wouldn't need her glasses quite as badly. She shuffled into the art room, where Addy was already sitting at the art table, waiting for Cecilia to get there. Cecilia plopped her bag on the table and sat in her chair stiffly, trying to not let her emotions show. Addy looked at Cecilia and waited for the teacher to finish giving the instructions for today's assignment. Cecilia's face was flushed and she was tugging on her hair, something of a nervous habit. Addy rolled her eyes, knowing that something was up, and it probably had something to do with Victor.

As Cecilia went to pull out her art supplies, Addy grabbed her arm and whispered, "So, what's going on with Victor? I know you're all hot and bothered about Victor, so spill it."

Cecilia looked at Addy in complete shock, her eyes wide and her cheeks turning a deep red, "I- I don't know what you're talking about, Adelaide." She said curtly, turning away sharply toward her art supplies.

"Don't CALL me that!" Addy retorted. "I can tell I'm right on the mark, though. It _is_ something to do with that _Victor_ guy… so spill it. Something _is_ going on between you two… am I right?"

"Not… what you think it is… He's just going to catch me up for today's class… you know… since I don't have my glasses or anything today…" Cecilia said quietly without looking away from her charcoal sketching.

"Oh…ho ho… so what do you plan on doing now that you have a clear shot today?" Addy teased, leaning back in her chair and looking impishly at Cecilia.

"Uhh… I d-don't know wh-what you're t-talking about…" Cecilia stammered nervously as she began scrawling on her art pad more furiously, "w-we're just m-meeting for school stuff-f".

"Miss Johansen! Watch where you draw!" the art teacher, Mrs. Rivers screeched, "Oh, look at this mess! Go get a towel and clean this up immediately!"

The class turned to look at Cecilia's charcoal-covered work area and snickered. Addy covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

"And _you_! _Miss Aldridge_! You haven't even _started_ the day's assignment! Get out your art supplies and get to work _now_!" Mrs. Rivers scolded, pointing her finger accusingly at Addy. Addy reached down to grab her things, as the class's snickering grew louder. "As for the rest of you, _get back to work_! I expect a _complete_ assignment from each of you by the _end of class_!" she added.


	4. The world is a strange place

"Well, good. We have important business to discuss, and not a lot of time to do it. Let's go" Victor motioned for her to follow him.

"Uh, you mean the notes? Well, Ok…" She said, putting her food back in the bag and getting up.

Victor reached down and grabbed Cecilia by the hand, much to her surprise, and began to run, while Cecilia strained to keep up. "What's going on? Where's he taking me?" she thought to herself. Victor was incredibly fast and Cecilia was having a really hard time keeping up. She was almost a foot shorter than Victor, so that certainly didn't help her ability to move her legs fast enough. She was tripping over her feet so much that she couldn't pay any attention to where Victor was taking her, and much to her surprise, all of the people they were running around seemed to not even notice that she and Victor were barging through. Did they not care, or did they not notice? "What the hell is going on?!" her mind shouted.

"I promise, I'll explain everything once we get there!" Victor shouted.

Cecilia felt her feet beginning to lift off the ground. She tried desperately to reach the ground with her feet, stretching her feet and toes, but she was lifted off her feet. Victor was going too fast for her to touch the ground. She was in such a state of shock that she didn't know what to think at this point. She clung firmly to his hand and hoped that this would all end soon. They were entering the woods near the school. Cecilia was confused, and a little scared at this point. "The woods? Why?" she thought to herself. Suddenly, Victor snapped to a stop, flicked back and caught the airborne Cecilia.

"Are you ok? I know this is all confusing to you, but I promise you, I will explain very soon." Victor said.

Cecilia blushed as Victor let her down, "Yeah, I'm ok… I think." She looked away and began tugging on her hair.

Victor knelt down and brushed away some dirt and twigs to reveal a small metallic button. Cecilia cocked her head to the side and looked down at it curiously, "What is that?" she questioned.

He pushed the button and the ground started to rumble. Cecilia jumped backward and looked around for the source of the quake. The earth between two dead trees tore open, revealing what looked to be a solid steel door. Victor motioned for Cecilia to come closer, as he leaned down into the crevice, grabbing hold of the door's handle, and opening the door with a loud creak. Cecilia just stared in shock, her arms raised defensively and her knees shaking. She was so stunned that she couldn't ask any of the questions racing through her mind. She just stared at the scene, not even sure how to understand what she was experiencing.

Victor sighed, stood up and approached Cecilia, putting his hands on her elbows to lower her arms, "Look. I have some really important things to discuss with you. I know this is all really sudden and really surprising, but please, trust me. Nothing bad is going to happen" he explained soothingly, trying to coax her into following him into the bunker, "I promise."

Cecilia nodded slowly, shaking off all of her bad feelings and fear, took Victor by the hand and followed him into this mysterious underground bunker. The two walked down a set of dimly lit metal stairs that clinked hauntingly as they stepped on them. Her heart raced as the two descended deeper inside the dark bunker. This was something out of a science fiction novel, this couldn't be real, she must be dreaming, Cecilia tried to reason as she grew light-headed from fear and confusion.

Her hands trembled as she continued clinging to Victor, hoping that he was right and nothing bad would happen. Victor felt her hand begin to sweat and shake as he held it. He knew she was scared, that a girl as accustomed to routine as her would have a hard time adjusting to what was happening, but at the same time, he knew she was perfect for him and if he didn't act fast, someone else would take her. She was more precious to the world than she could have ever known. Once they made it inside the bunker's main room, Victor turned around, gently grabbed Cecilia's shoulders and leaned in. Cecilia's whole body quaked as she nearly lost control of her bladder.

"What's he doing?! Ohmigod Ohmigod Ohmigod!" her mind raced.

"Listen, I have to tell you something." Victor spoke softly, trying not to stress Cecilia out much more before the big news hit her.

"Wh-what?" she asked, trying to regain some of her lost composure.

"I want to offer you a part-time job."

Cecilia stared at him blankly, her heart stopping for a beat, "Eh…huh?"

"You would be perfect for it. I wouldn't dream of asking anyone else to fill this position, but before I can tell you more about it, I need to know that you're on-board." Victor stated, standing up straight and walking over to a dark table in the poorly lit room.

Cecilia was almost relieved for some reason. A part-time job certainly seemed less threatening than whatever she was worried about in the back of her mind. But what sort of part-time job would Victor possibly have to offer, she wondered. What on Earth could he possibly see as a perfect fit for a girl as awkward as her? It didn't matter to her. She was worthless to everyone else anyway, so if Victor thinks she's perfect for something, maybe she could use this chance to get closer to him… maybe he would even fall in love with her. The thought of it made her blush, making her hold her face and turn around so that Victor wouldn't be able to see somehow through the darkness of the room. Whatever the job was, Cecilia was certain she would be terrible at it, but she would try her hardest to do what she could to impress Victor. This was the chance of a lifetime she had been secretly hoping for.

Cecilia turned back around to face Victor and proudly responded, "Yes, Victor, I will do it. I'm in."

Victor smiled and pressed a large button on the area where he had been standing, lighting up the whole room to reveal a technological workstation, complete with radar monitors, maps with hundreds of push-pins, and tables with leather straps and faded blue stains on them. Cecilia looked around in amazement. She had never seen a room that was anything like this but in movies and TV shows.

"So, let me tell you more about the job. I'll get to why I think you're qualified for it in a minute." Victor said, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking slowly around his bunker office. "See, a lot of people think that there's no such thing as vampires and ghosts. People tend to deny what they fear and don't understand. Why do you think most people fear the dark, even as adults?"

"I thought it was because large bugs and snakes and stuff would attack our ancestors in the dark, so we evolved to be afraid of the dark." Cecilia responding, proud that she was able to remember anything from biology.

"But why would humankind still have a fear for the dark when those threats are long-gone and long-dead? Why would a fear in the dark continue to benefit humans?" Victor questioned, holding his hands behind his back and facing Cecilia.

"Um… well, I don't know" she mumbled embarrassedly.

"Nightfall brings with it a number of dangers for humans. Things that take advantage of the human's lack of ability to see in the dark as many other animals can do. But humans have more to fear than loss of life. You see, every living thing has a spiritual energy; the wider the range of emotion, the more spiritual energy that is leaked into the surrounding environment. Do you know why most reports of ghost sightings are of human ghosts and figures despite there being many more plants, insects, and rodents than humans?"

"No… I have never actually seen a ghost… so I don't know…"

"Well, it's simply because humans have a wider range of stronger emotions than do any other living creature. You do occasionally hear a report of an animal ghost, usually dogs, horses, or other larger mammals, but almost never of lizards, rodents, and smaller mammals. Well, not only does this spiritual energy pollution lead to poltergeists and phantoms, but it also acts as a lure for other creatures that feed upon humans in one manner or another." Victor explained.

Cecilia wasn't sure how to take all of what was being told to her. She didn't believe in ghosts or vampires or boogey men, but she didn't want to outright deny everything that Victor was saying, thus make him hate her or anything. She listened and tried to be open-minded, but it was difficult for her.

"There are varying levels of spiritual energy, just as you would see varying levels of anything else – academic ability, athleticism, whatever. Vampires hunt the ones with higher-than-average spiritual energies by following the trail left behind by the ignorant human. For creatures like vampires, it's easy to sniff out spiritual energy, well, it's not exactly sniffing, it's more like a type of vision, but you get the idea."

She did not get the idea. Vampires? How could there be such a thing? That just didn't make any sense biologically. Where would Vampires possibly have come from in the first place? She dared not to ask those questions and instead just nodded as she tried to follow along.

Victor continued pacing around his office, checking the computer monitors and radar screens for signs of activity. "I know what you're thinking. You don't believe that vampires could possibly exist because there is no reasonable explanation for their existence. That's a typical line of thinking of the average human trying to protect themselves from the danger of facing the unknown. Vampirism is a disease, much like Huntington's or other dominant genetic traits. This means that if one of the parents is a vampire, the child will most likely be a vampire as well," he explained professorially, "however, the ability to see spiritual energy trails is a separate gene, meaning some vampires have a very limited ability to hunt in that fashion, whereas some others are well-equipped to use that ability."

Cecilia wasn't sure what to believe, but she was really hoping she wouldn't have to go out and face any of these things that Victor was describing. If they existed, she wanted to continue to not see any of them.

"That brings us to the topic of why I brought you here," Victor stated, turning to face Cecilia. "When I first met you, I could tell that you had a much higher than average spiritual energy. I could feel it brewing and bubbling beneath the surface, but for some reason, I couldn't see it. I couldn't put my finger on it until today, when I saw it expanding and contracting while you were with your friends. It was as though you were controlling it reflexively, and without ever letting it leak into your surroundings. I understood at that point that you, unlike so many others I have met, are actually able to control it, to hide it. I know that if I could help you, to train you to consciously command your spiritual energy, that you would be the most valuable asset to my company."

"Um… I don't know what you're - "

"Hey, Vick! You down there? I'm comin' down!" shouted a voice coming from the bunker's stairwell.


End file.
